Sunday, October 30, 2016

This week's clip show is a bit of a humble one. There aren't any spectacular saves, there are no team wipes, there's just some good, honest Tracer work. Some Mercy hunting on Ilios, some jazzy one-on-ones on Numbani, and the best parts of a phenomenal game on Hanamura where I ended with eighteen eliminations and a single death. Glorious.

0:32 - 0:44 : I did not know there was a Bastion waiting down there when I followed Winston off that ledge. Also, I have no idea why that Zenyatta popped Transcendence - maybe it was just to save his skin? Transcendence can't save his Mercy from a pulse bomb, though.

1:00 - 1:09 : This felt fucking amazing. Doing a one-eighty before blinking, backwards, through a Reinhardt's shield to begin blasting him in the back is an old trick - and it's a risky maneuver, like a tank-dance with Mercy. I'm usually putting myself right into the enemy line, with my fingers crossed that I won't get insta-gibbed by the Rein's team.

This one worked terribly well.

1:36 - 1:41 : Poor Reinhardt.

1:41 - 2:05 : It's not often that the Play of the Game actually reflects something you did that you thought was awesome. Usually it's a numbers game - a 2-rez, 2 solo kills will do it, but more often than not it's a three-fer or a team wipe that'll get it.

This was awesome. This felt awesome, at the time. I can appreciate that for the other folks in the game (who likely pulled some awesome shit of their own), this was probably a disappointing PotG - but it was definitely one of those moments where I felt remarkably badass.

Our Mei throws up her ice wall, the enemy Reinhardt just on the other side. I press my back to the wall and wait for it to shatter, and do a reverse-blink into the enemy line. The Reinhardt has moved, and charges onto our point... but nobody from his team follows him! Most notably, not the Mercy, who is almost instantly brought to 10% health by yours truly. I chase her down and finish her off,

The enemy Tracer and I were at our throats for most of this game - more often than not, we would clash for a few frantic seconds, and each of us would go our separate way, in search of easier pickins. On this occasion, I just got pretty darned lucky, and put every single round into that tiny hitbox before she could kill me. Noice.

2:19 - 2:31 : Poor Mercy. But dealing with Mercy, first and foremost, is the dark work of a good Tracer. Every party-rez she gets off is a failure on my part.

2:31 - 2:44 : Chamberlain has asked me if these videos improve my play, at all. And sometimes, it does - in this particular melee (woo McCree takedown!), I really needed to be more aggressive with the Roadhog. If I hadn't blinked back and forth, and just gone straight for the pulse bomb, I woulda' taken him out no problem and gotten off scott free.

Still, two for one ain't a bad deal.

2:58 - 3:11 : Taking out an airborn Pharah, while standing on the edge of a precipice, a colossal red bullseye for her concussion blast, as Tracer, is some white knuckle shit. ...but why did it only say I'd knocked off 20% of her health? That's bullshit.

3:11 - 3:26 : This entire Numbani defense, my Tracer was on frickin' fire. I managed this, mostly, by not going off on my own behind enemy lines to get picks. I find, like Mei, Tracer is at her best when she's complimenting the DPS of the rest of her team - so when this Winston dropped in at the perfect time to help me take down Zenny and Hanzo, I really appreciated the help.

I like Rise of the Tomb Raider. I really like it - not done it, yet - the story and story presentation is farcical, its gameplay loops are sublime. Mostly, this means its wide-open areas, thick with collectibles and doors protecting secret areas with enticing locktease and little side-tombs to master. Once you solve whatever platforming/physics puzzle they wield, you get to open up a millennia-old manifest carved in stone, and your reward is ancient knowledge. That's awesome.

Just platforming around its areas feels good - all the little mechanics like wall-jumps and axe-swings give it just a nudge more depth, making it more rewarding and involving than Uncharted's relatively tame but gorgeously-presented movement.

One thing I pointed out in the podcast last week, I feel like Rise idealizes Lara too much, to the point that she's devoid of flaws or... humanity. This is perhaps a reaction to the controversy the reboot enjoyed when it attempted to frame Lara as a victim of sexual assault. I like that there are no animation frames that call attention to her female figure, I like that all of her costume options are actually really hardy, practical ensembles for the Siberian weather she's spending most of the game in.

In the old games, there would always be sexy animations - Lara would pull herself up onto a ledge in a suggestive, gymnastic flourish, she would swan dive off cliffs like a model in a perfume add - not so, here. When Lara cliff dives in Rise, she assumes the form of a Navy SEAL, dropping straight down, feet first, with her arms crossed over her chest for stability.

It's nice to see - but Lara is so perfectly capable, proficient and confident that her adventure feels absolutely inconsequential, as a result. It's kind of the Superman situation - it's obviously impossible to hurt her or give her a challenge she's incapable of overcoming, so the stakes are nonexistent.

This is a stark departure from the Lara we got in the Tomb Raider reboot. There, Lara didn't think she could do it. She was John McClane, getting the absolute shit beat out of her over the course of that campaign, but a combination of luck and skill saw her gather up her courage and forge through an impossible challenge. By the end, like The Guy In Die Hard, she was a staggering, desperate woman smashing through her limits - a legit, badass, awesome hero.

In Rise, she's not a human hero who's overcoming the impossible. She's Rambo.

The gameplay? Sublime. The narrative? Two steps forward, three steps back.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

My physical copy of Yomawari is still in customs over in Ontario, and I'm actually pret-ty darned hyped for it... but even if I snap and decide to get it digitally off PSN, I can't because there was some sort of price snafu there, and it's not even available on the store yet!

Nyahhhhh!
Podcast should be up tomorrow! Sorry for being a bad blogger :(

Gorgeousness and... nothin' else, pretty much but oh my God so gorgeous! It really serves as a reminder that Grand Theft Auto V was a last-gen title, and in one year we're gonna' see what Rockstar can do on the new gen. Wewt.

Oh as if I need to care about an X-Men movie but what seems to be a character-driven three-hander with Patrick Stuart back as the professor and why does Wolverine look so old when he's supposed to be immortal but I don't care I'm probably gonna' have to see this.

But still, the Amnesia games are hugely influential, and have made the studio thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of lifelong fans. The collection will include The Dark Descent, Justine and A Machine For Pigs.

The Dusk trilogy consists of Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk, Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky and now Atelier Shallie: Alchemist of The Dusk Sea. The Atelier games are light, frothy RPGs. Tons of content and extra stuff to find, but a fairly mellow experience, overall. They star pastel-colored girls and their pastel-colored friends, a few beautiful pastel-colored boys and some colorful, cartoony pastel monsters to kill and pastel pastures to play through. They're terribly pretty games, and I've actually got physical copies of Ayesha and Escha & Logy on Vita.

So here's the deal - the game will be available physically and digitally in Europe, and will primarily release on PSN in North America. If you want a physical copy (pictured above), you can only get it through the NIS America online store. That is, the Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemist of The Dusk Sea Limited Edition. It includes..!

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea for PlayStation®Vita

30-Track original soundtrack with jewel case

Microfiber cloth (6" x 6")

Full-color, 48-page softcover art book

Collector's box (Includes all the above)

And given my collect-y inclinations... I had to preorder it. Drops January 17, 2017.

Which reminds me, I think I want to get on that Asian release of Dragon Quest Builders...

Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, is proud to announce that the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2 will release worldwide in Fall 2017 for PlayStation 4 computer entertainment systems and for the Xbox One games and entertainment system.

Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game's vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.

"With Red Dead Redemption 2, the team is working hard to push forward our vision for interactive entertainment in a truly living world," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "We hope to deliver players an epic experience that builds upon everything we've learned making games."

Because all they have to do is change their logo color to red, and folks will go nuts. All they have to do is tweet an image of some cowboys, and the Internet explodes at the news. They don't need to hold a press conference - we the consumer will spread their message far faster, and with greater enthusiasm than the capital-M Media ever could.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Oh, worth noting, when the "boss" Witch Mercy appears in the Halloween brawl and does her ultimate, she shouts "my servants never die!" She does not say it when a player uses her ult while wearing the Witch skin, however. Players begged for it to be applied to her skin for players annnd Kaplan said "Ok. ETA mid-Nov."

Nice!

First of all...

I would like to begin by advising you that Alex had an awesome fucking Play of the Game on Dorado yesterday - he rolled like almost the entire enemy team. Seriously - this is a quintuple kill. One of the best Soldier ults I've ever seen.

And who's that damage boosting our heroic Soldier? That's right - one of the best Soldier ults I've ever seen... and I helped!

Second, last night, finally, someone sent me a hate message on PSN.

The name didn't stand out to me at all - I had no idea who this person was - but I did remember a sweet roll on Volskaya.

We were up against two D.Vas, so I went Zarya and another on my team soon followed suit. We did well, but I got to the point where I felt like the other Zarya wasn't supporting me nearly as much as I was her, and I wasn't detecting many heals from the Ana, so I decided to go roll a hero with a bit more survivability - Mei.

I was pleased enough with it that I recorded it, and when I re-watched it... ohhh that's who LuckySaintz is. She's the D.Va I waved hello to after I killed half her team.

At this point, really feeling like my team wasn't working together and I pretty much just needed to go it alone, I had no fucks left to give. They're all nice kills - the Soldier alone is pretty sweet - but I think popping up in that Pharah's face was definitely the scariest, for them.

Finally, the clip show!

Annnd I'm not even gonna' do the play-by-play today, 'cause it's all pretty self-explanatory.

I think I'm better on Tracer than I think I am. We keep winning when I play her.

As soon as I got the double-kill after that three-rez, I leaned into the mic and said "and there's your play of the game."

That Mercy was very thankful when I saved her from the Genji ult. Felt good.

I actually got PotG for killing that Torb and Mercy in quick succession like that. It was one of my worst PotGs ever.

Eating a Whole Hog and a Death Blossom? Delicious.

The last third of this vid is all one match on Anubis. We lost the game, when a D.Va ult took me down and their Reaper and Genji ulted on the point. My ult charge was at 91%. It was tragic. Still, I got the PotG for the Zarya/Genji ult counter!

I had to burn a vacation day yesterday, in order to be home for a boiler repair dude who was just coming in to do regular bi-yearly maintenance. So,

on a vacation day, I have to be up at the crack of dawn.

The fucker doesn't show up until after my work day would have ended,

so I burned a vacation day for no fucking reason.

He charges me $300.00, and leaves.

I go to sleep, and wake up frozen to the core because we've got no fucking heat.

So I go to work, cold on a deep and fundamental level, and call the company to explain that I need him to return - but just to make sure I have enough space on my credit card, I give my balance and statement a peek. There's a $200 charge I don't recognize from a company called something-something-luxembourg.

So I call my credit card company, and indeed it is fraud, so now I have no fucking credit card.

A dipshit at the office was a total fucking dipshit and I'm not about to post that shit on the internet.

Junkrat activates his Riptire slightly faster, but let's be honest, none of this matters because THIS:

Ohhh shits Mercy in a jaunty witch's hat and it turns her Caduceus staff into a broom ohmyGodohmyGod...

Oh but wait, that's only the second-best part. The best part is that this time (unlike the Summer Games skins) you don't have to rely on the luck of the loot box dealer to score these hot new skins. This time you can buy them with in-game coins! 3K for the Legendary skins, 750 for the Epics.

Okay, need Reinhardt, need Reaper annnd I wouldn't say no to Junkrat, if you offered it to me. Excuse me, I need to see how a certain update is progressing...

CHANCE...

...is actually named David.

This is where I write about video games. Beyond the simple pleasure of it, I hope to use this place as a bit of a mental gym to re-develop my writing style - something I seem to have misplaced around the turn of the century.

It will also serve as a personal blog, but for the most part if you enjoy discussion of gaming news, independent reviews and pointless musings, you have come to precisely the right place.

It's my custom to do at least one post per day - but whether it ends up being ten posts of breaking news and a review, or one post complaining about how I have a tummy ache is not set in stone.